Though I didn't realize...that Yume had tentacles. New addition or did I just not know that?

Focusing on the picture, I love the two corner touches of a clam and the coral outline. Very well done and not noticeable, but nice atmosphere addition. I must say that the sketchy feel of the overall drawing is quite powerful for the shading and final product that you show here. The tail especially in contrast to the dark shades of the body. Maybe it's me, but I can sorta -feel- that water between me and Yume. It's a nice touch, intentional or not.

Though I didn't realize...that Yume had tentacles. New addition or did I just not know that?

Focusing on the picture, I love the two corner touches of a clam and the coral outline. Very well done and not noticeable, but nice atmosphere addition. I must say that the sketchy feel of the overall drawing is quite powerful for the shading and final product that you show here. The tail especially in contrast to the dark shades of the body. Maybe it's me, but I can sorta -feel- that water between me and Yume. It's a nice touch, intentional or not.

Well done my friend. Well done indeed.

Damn you, Padfoot, you said nearly all I was planning to say. Ditto to all, especially about the frame and coral/clamshell embellishments. Those kinds of details are ones very few artists add, but can really transform something.
Also, a bit of criticism to even out all this praise . The one thing that I see aas a deficit to this is the overall graininess. I might have thought it a visual effect were it not uniformly everywhere, even on the frame and clamshell. I'm guessing it's the result of scanning?

padfootsm wrote:Though I didn't realize...that Yume had tentacles. New addition or did I just not know that?

No, that's a new thing I threw in there as of this picture. Always wanted an excuse to try out a design with them, and this gave me a good reason and chance =3

padfootsm wrote:Focusing on the picture, I love the two corner touches of a clam and the coral outline. Very well done and not noticeable, but nice atmosphere addition. I must say that the sketchy feel of the overall drawing is quite powerful for the shading and final product that you show here. The tail especially in contrast to the dark shades of the body. Maybe it's me, but I can sorta -feel- that water between me and Yume. It's a nice touch, intentional or not.

I'm glad you enjoyed the little additions there. I like using boarders here and there, but I don't like containing or restricting a picture. I threw the shell and coral in there as subtle additions to break the rigid edges, as I did with the tail and tentacle, and add to the setting.

I hadn't thought it would work out like that, and now that you mention it, I see what you mean. Thanks. I almost toned out the background to drop it back and create more contrast, but it was intended to be a brighter piece, so I left it as-is.

zukezorin wrote:Also, a bit of criticism to even out all this praise . The one thing that I see aas a deficit to this is the overall graininess. I might have thought it a visual effect were it not uniformly everywhere, even on the frame and clamshell. I'm guessing it's the result of scanning?

I appreciate the constructive criticism, I really do. That's one of the things I love about this board so much: The well-worded and helpful pointers.

The graininess is something I'm working on. My scanner likes to eat my art, and I'm thinking I'll need to just get a good camera to bring in my works.

The brighter the light, the darker its shadow.

"One week in summer, that was as fulfilling as a year, seemed as short as a day." -Belldandy